The Healthcare Policy Podcast ®  Produced by David Introcaso
The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
Misuse of Antipsychotics Continues to Harm and Kill Thousands of Nursing Facility Residents: An Interview With Ms. Hannah Flamm (February 15th)
0:00
-35:48

Misuse of Antipsychotics Continues to Harm and Kill Thousands of Nursing Facility Residents: An Interview With Ms. Hannah Flamm (February 15th)

Listen Now

In early February the Human Rights Watch (HRW) published, "'They Want Docile': How Nursing Homes in the US Over-medicate People with Dementia."  The inappropriate or misuse of antipsychotics, e.g., Haldol, Seroquel and Risperdal, in nursing facilities to chemically restrain nursing home patients, moreover frail and elderly seniors, has been practiced for decades.  The HRW report found in 2016-2017 "massive use" or abuse, i.e., the report estimated in an average week over 179,000 long-stay nursing facility patients were administered antipsychotic drugs without a diagnosis for which the drugs are indicated or approved.  Despite efforts to reduce the abuse of these medications, in part via a CMS voluntary initiative (a link to which his provided below), the practice persists, in part, because the federal government has nominally enforced regulations and enforcement measures to remedy the problem.  The use of these drugs can and does cause serious patient harm.  In testimony before the Congress in 2007, the FDA's Dr. David Graham stated, "15,000 elderly people in nursing homes [are] dying each year form the off-label use of antipsychotic medications for an indication that the FDA knows the drug doesn't work."  Listeners may recall I initially discussed this topic in December 2012 with Diana Zuckerman.   

During this 36 minute discussion Ms. Flamm explains what prompted the HRW study, the study's methodology, how widespread is the practice of misuse of antipsychotics in nursing facilities, how and why they are used inappropriately, that includes the the failure to obtain free and informed consent, the federal government's inadequate enforcement of federal laws and regulations to police the problem and how this practice violates not just US laws but international human rights agreements. 

Ms. Hannah Flamm is currently an immigration lawyer at The Door's Legal Services Center in New York. In 2016-2017, Ms. Flamm was New York University's School of Law Fellow at Human Rights Watch where she researched and wrote, "They Want Docile."  She interned with the Southern Poverty Law Center, South Brooklyn Legal Services and Schonbrun DeSimone, an international human rights and civil rights firm.  She is a graduate of NYU's School of Law and the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government.  As a student she participated in NYU's Family Defense Clinic and the Harvard International Human Rights Clinic.  Prior to attending law school, Ms. Flamm worked for the International Rescue Committee in Haiti. 

The Human Rights Watch report is at: https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/02/05/they-want-docile/how-nursing-homes-united-states-overmedicate-people-dementia.

Two related 2012 and 2011 DHHS Office of the Inspector General reports are at: https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-08-00151.pdf and https://oig.hhs.gov/oei/reports/oei-07-08-00150.pdf.

Information on CMS' "National Partnership to Improve Dementia Care in Nursing Homes" is at: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Provider-Enrollment-and-Certification/SurveyCertificationGenInfo/National-Partnership-to-Improve-Dementia-Care-in-Nursing-Homes.html.

0 Comments
The Healthcare Policy Podcast ®  Produced by David Introcaso
The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
Podcast interviews with health policy experts on timely subjects. The Healthcare Policy Podcast website features audio interviews with healthcare policy experts on timely topics. An online public forum routinely presenting expert healthcare policy analysis and comment is lacking. While other healthcare policy website programming exists, these typically present vested interest viewpoints or do not combine informed policy analysis with political insight or acumen. Since healthcare policy issues are typically complex, clear, reasoned, dispassionate discussion is required. These podcasts will attempt to fill this void. Among other topics this podcast will address: Implementation of the Affordable Care Act Other federal Medicare and state Medicaid health care issues Federal health care regulatory oversight, moreover CMS and the FDA Healthcare research Private sector healthcare delivery reforms including access, reimbursement and quality issues Public health issues including the social determinants of health Listeners are welcomed to share their program comments and suggest programming ideas. Comments made by the interviewees are strictly their own and do not represent those of their affiliated organization/s.